How many butts?

I can fit one good sized butt on the top rack. That is as much as I have needed to cook at one time. You can also fit one on the bottom rack at the same time as well. I fit two (as many as I needed at the time) racks of ribs on the top shelf in my rib rack, upright. I could have fit 4 on the rack (that's what it was made to hold). PAGS has said he fit 6 baby back racks in total directly on the shelves. Vicki

depends on the size of the PB. I can easily fit 2 ten+ lb shoulders on a shelf. So for 2 shelves that would be 40 lbs.

TNQ - are you getting all that on an SM025? I know the instructions say 20 - 25lbs of meat. Are those numbers that CS mention just suggestions?

They're conservative. Also, if the 025 can do 40 lbs of pork butt, it couldn't do 40 lbs of jerky or turkey.

I have had 35 pds of pork shoulder/butt in mine. CostCo sells those pork shoulder packages. Has 2 roasts in each. I can smoke two packages.

Should be able to get 4 butts in there without a problem. As for the spares, full spares? Or St. Louis? You can get one full spare on there, should be able to get two St. Louis on there, depends on how wide they are. Remember you need air flow in between. If it's a real long rack, you might need to trim one of the bones off the narrow end of the rack.

Don't think you'll get 4 ten pound butts in there, but who knows? I could fit 2 ten lb-ers on the top shelf, but the bottom only has 4" between it and the top shelf, so you might only be able to get 7 lb-ers or so in there.

I've done 4 full slabs of spares in mine, but they overlapped a little on the edges, so I figured next time I'd put some short wood skewers staked in between to keep them separated, that way it doesn't make the ribs look funny(no bark/rub).

Experience has taught me to rotate shelves on over loads and to start at a little lower temps to help with the direct heat, but hey, I'm sure you'll learn your pit when you start cooking on it.

Pags, if I could do 40 lbs of jerky at a time I would start a business, LOL

I hear ya.

quote:

Originally posted by Pags:
I hear ya.

I'm going out on a limb here, but I have a feeling Cook Shack will sell you a bigger unit. I'm not saying, just saying.

YA THINK.... Something tells me I should break my new SM025 in for more than a month first.

[QUOTE}Experience has taught me to rotate shelves on over loads and to start at a little lower temps to help with the direct heat[/QUOTE]

Excellent advice right there folks...make a note of it.